Malls are dead. When you put together outrageous leases with a lack of foot traffic, you get empty malls. Many of our local malls have integrated movie theaters and large restaurant and bar presences to boost patronage, but it only goes so far.
Many of your traditional anchor stores such as JC Penney, Macy’s, Sears, and Burdines have been faltering as of late and can’t keep people coming to the stores.
Part of this, besides the Obamacare and economy that hasn't recovered, is the pandering to the less than 2% of the population. i.e, the homosexuals.
It takes more than the 2% to keep a business profitable.
The old program was to appeal to as many people as possible.
I feel like they don't want my business because they don't stock the clothes that I like, and I wouldn't be caught dead in what they call clothes, now.
Southwyck Mall - big, beautiful mall near where I used to live in Toledo, Ohio - closed down then demolished after it could not survive losing 3 anchor store chains within a couple of years.
Parkway Center Mall - Conveniently located by an Interstate exit just outside Downtown Pittsburgh, it nevertheless succumbed to the loss of nearly all chains that were formerly tenants (PharMor, ChiChi’s, CompUSA, etc.) The economy actually got it long before it’s predicted fall into a mine shaft.
Century III Mall - once the nation’s biggest, it just lost it’s Sears store, leaving the entire north end essentially vacant. Anchor at the south end is JC Penney. I don’t give ‘em long.
Maybe, maybe not.
BUT! Those stores used to be the only source of specific goods (Craftsman tools, Sears appliances, etc) and clothes that were “higher-end” than elsewhere. Now? Everybody carries the identical foreign-made garbage.
So why drive to a mall when on-line is available for less money, less hassle and carries the same stuff - or evenmore choices? When Walmart has the same as Sears and Nordstrums and Penny's and Target and Sears and Ace hardware and Home Depot and Lowes?
To get “good” tools or specialty tools I MUST go on-line or to industrial supply places - which have to order overnight delivery anyway. And I've NEVER gone “downtown” to shop since the mid-60’s.
Major mall leases have risen far beyond the financial grasp of interesting local stores, so today you see nothing but the same national chains. Forty years ago, you could visit a mall in another city and - apart form Sears and JC Penney - all the stores would be different from the ones you found at home. Now major malls are virtually identical and shoppers who still have means are simply bored with them.
In 1985 or 86, my cousin was doing union masonry work on a huge mall being built in Central Jersey. He told me that huge mall buildings were built to last only about 30 years. So... Bridgewater Commons... Get ready for the wrecking ball!